Around 1:55am on October 6, 2009, an armed intruder entered the N. 64th Street family home of 19-year-old Ashleigh Love in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The unknown intruder proceeded to Ashleigh’s second floor bedroom where he shot her in the face as she slept. Ashleigh’s mother told police she saw someone with a bandanna over his faceand shotgun in hand run from their home and through the backyard after the shooting. Investigators do not believe this was a random act but they have not said publicly if they have a suspect or motive. Investigators have asked the public to help them find a man Ashleigh may have met online and in person over that summer. Police have not named him a suspect but would like to speak to him about his relationship with Ashleigh.

“Someone somewhere knows something. We are begging them to come forward. This has left our family heartbroken and devastated. We feel like we are in hell, and we can’t climb out.” -Tammy Love (Ashleigh’s mom)

Ashleigh graduated that spring from Pius XI Catholic High School in Milwaukee, where she was on the honor roll. Ashleigh, known for her smile, laugh and compassion for others was employed at Arby’s as she took the year off from school while deciding what to do with her life. In the days and weeks after Ashleigh’s murder letters from family, friends and strangers poured in from near and far. Kyle Olson, a Milwaukee native and filmmaker who knew the Loves, collaborated with the family in the months and years after Ashleigh’s death to create a short documentary, ‘Letters to Ashleigh’. During the film Ashleigh’s family reads the letters they received following Ashleigh’s death. Ashleigh’s mom, Tammy Love, also contributed to the book Grief Diaries: Project Cold Case and shared her journey through the devastating grief associated with losing a child to an unsolved murder.

The fear, the anger, the sadness and the lonliness often try to overcome me so I grasp onto hope, because without hope there is nothing.” Tammy Love, Letters to Ashleigh

The Love family is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of person(s) responsible for Ashleigh’s murder. Anyone with information, no matter how small, is asked to call the Milwaukee Police Cold Case Hotline at 414-935-1212.

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If you have a loved one that is the victim of an unsolved homicide please submit their case here for consideration in a future Cold Case Spotlight post.